Dinner for Two
by saiyuri-dahlia
Summary: He had promised to be here. Why wasn't he here? As Shad struggles to convince the frustrated wait staff to give him more time and townsfolk snicker around him, Shad's date finally arrives. Except the fellow isn't his boyfriend. Link/Shad.
Story Title: Dinner for Two

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight Princess or even the initial idea for this oneshot. I admit that it actually came from a Tumblr post that was too cute to not use as a writing prompt.

Author's Notes: When I had first read the aforementioned Tumblr post, I loved the idea but I felt like it was a gray area in terms of writing inspiration. Nonetheless, I started on a piece using the idea that night but set it aside without completing it. I've worked on it here and there, put it aside, and came back to it several times. With the release of TPHD, I came back to it again, since I wanted to work on something ShadLink but wanted to work on something I could finish quickly.

As always, thanks for reading.

-o-

Story Title: Dinner for Two

-o-

"Are you ready to place your order, good sir?" a second waiter, this one middle-aged with a pencil line mustache, stood beside Shad, placed a menu on the table, and slid it toward him in a clear insistence that he should place an order soon.

"Ah, er…well, actually I am waiting for a dear associate of mine to join me for dinner. I say, it should not be much longer. Just a little more time, please," Shad said nervously, peering up at the dapper fellow and offering him an embarrassed smile. He requested a glass of water out of courtesy, finding the evening tea far too abused and over-boiled.

"As you wish, sir," the waiter replied and swiped away the single-page menu. Before he left, Shad saw the waiter stare up at the sky in disdainful disbelief. He also pretended not to notice several fancy ladies and dandy gentlemen from neighboring tables frowning as they glanced cursorily over at his table set for two and yet only seated one.

Shad checked his pocket watch yet again. In thirty-six seconds, he would be precisely late by half an hour. Thirty minutes was not an unreasonable length of time to be delayed, now was it? After all, matters went awry, carriage wheels broke, and sisters grew ill, and every inauspicious star in the heavens could align improperly and cause inexhaustible sorts of time-consuming mishaps that could easily theft more than thirty minutes of one's time. He would have sent word if he could not attend so he was bound to arrive soon, of course, and Shad was not without the virtue of patience.

He maintained watch on the three likely entry points into the open outdoor dining area of this rather fussy (and undeniably pricey) fine dining restaurant. It was the sort of place his mother would have relished to dine at but Shad was not particularly charmed by its pretentious put-ons and posturing airs.

Admittedly, Shad was a formal fellow one would expect to feel comfortable in such snobbish surroundings, but he actually preferred more casual fares, like Telma's for instance, or what he cooked himself at home. However, he had tapped into his savings and made a reservation for tonight simply because his beau had begged and pled to have dinner here just once and he swore on the Goddesses that he would not be late.

He was getting to be forty-five minutes late.

"Sir, we must request that you leave and allow us to seat the next reservation promptly," the middle-aged waiter said dully, his flat stare as level and emotionless as his voice. Two younger waiters, one being the first waiter that had approached Shad when he was first seated, stood on each side of him.

"If you could permit me just five more minutes," Shad said with a tremble in his voice as he rushed to speak quickly, "I will gladly depart voluntarily."

"Sir…" the waiter said, just as dry and deadpan as before, as the surrounding ladies and gentlemen chuckled and smiled to themselves in disbelief.

A tiny bead of nervous sweat ran down the side of his face. "Now, hold up for just one moment," he said, bravado lending his voice force and resolve as he rose from his chair. "I know well and truly that five minutes is an insignificant amount of time, which is why it would not be a great hindrance to you to allot me this small request. I assure you that in five minutes my associate will have arrived."

The two younger waiters shook their heads no and smiled softly in pity.

"You might want to consider the possibility that you have been stood up, sir," the head waiter said, utterly finished. "No one is coming."

"He promised that he would," Shad said, speaking more to himself than the waiters. "I know that it seems that I have been stood up…" His face red with embarrassment, Shad frantically looked about and ran his unsteady hand through his hair as he struggled to come up with a logical explanation and reasonable plea to convince the wait staff to allow him to keep his reserved table.

At the same time, rationality and truth made their cases well known to Shad. His cheeks burned as his eyes watered as he realized that he had been lied to again, that this time was not different…

"I didn't know you could eat outside here," a sandy blond-haired fellow said, loud enough to draw Shad's and the waiters' attentions as he looked around in curiosity and greeted gawking men and women with a raise of his hand or a nod.

He walked right past the waiters and right up to Shad and, to his bafflement, hugged him, lifting him off his feet, despite the fact that the strange fellow in a green tunic and cap only met Shad's shoulders.

"Sorry for being late," he said as he set Shad down. He looked over at the head waiter and said with a grin, "I hope we still get to keep our table."

The head waiter sighed as he turned to excuse himself from this headache. "Go get some menus," he ordered one of the younger waiters.

"And some free breadsticks," the fellow added cheerily and as the waiters ignored him, his cheer lessened. He asked Shad, "We don't get breadsticks, do we?"

Shad heard himself answer but he was not positive on what he had said. He was far too occupied in wrapping his thoughts around this fellow's sudden arrival and the effortless manner he intruded upon but also diffused his tense matters. Still reeling with questions, he nonetheless sat down at the fellow's encouragement.

"Pardon my language," Shad said, lowering his voice and staring in confusion as the jovial fellow in the green tunic plopped down in the chair across from him, "but, I say, who the devil are you?"

"Such strong words," he said, laughing through his grin. "Is that any way to speak to your date?"

His already widened owlish eyes grew just a fraction more wider as he said, "You are—"

"Late, I know. I hope you can forgive me," the fellow interrupted as he leaned toward Shad and propped his chin on the back of his hand. "How about I pay for dinner? My treat."

"I say, you are under no obligation to do so nor shall I permit you to do that," Shad replied, reaching for and opening his rupee wallet. "While I appreciate the offer, I know not who you are and what sort of charade you are attempting to pull but it is best we leave. We have made more than enough of a spectacle of ourselves as is already."

As he placed a red rupee as both payment for his tea and interruption of service on the table, the fellow suddenly and swiftly grabbed his hand at the wrist. Taken aback, he dropped the rupee and tried to pull his hand away, only to find the fellow's grip strong and secure but without any true force behind it. As he peered up and met his intense blue eyes, he found his words had come and gone without him ever speaking them.

Shad was well aware from the moment he noticed him and was raised off his feet into a hug that the fellow in green was quite attractive and strong. Flustered by his boldness, he had avoided gazing at him intently until now. His heartbeat was already racing, having leapt at the surprise of him taking hold of his hand in the first place, but there was more. There was a flutter and warmth, a feeling and sensation of the uncertain unknown fused with awe that was not unpleasant. Best comparison he had in his life experience was the wonder of discovering a new lead in his research, and being overjoyed and overwhelmed by the desire to pursue the path and learn more.

"Come on…" the fellow said as his smile grew ever so larger and more charming. Shad was not positive if the fellow was putting on a breathless, sultry undertone into his voice or if he was imagining it. He did, however, wink at Shad. "Stay."

"I suppose…couldn't harm" Shad said, his thoughts jumbling and tripping over one another. "All r-right."

-o-

The fellow's name was Link and he was from Ordon. He chattered enthusiastically about his village and the forests, the goats he tended to, and the children he looked out for. In return, Shad spoke of his love of history and learning, of his father and his, now their dream of seeing the City in the Sky. He touched upon the fundamentals of his research and answered questions readily and eagerly as Link continued asking him questions with genuine intrigue.

They had left the restaurant together and walked directionless through the streets, stopping when Link found a pup. Shad looked on and smiled softly in amusement at Link's energetic glee and buoyant laughter as he played fetch and cuddled the equally lively pup. Shad had never imagined in all his mental narratives that his dinner date would play out like this—having dinner with another man than his beau, spending the evening chatting away eagerly and comfortably and not at all to nervously fill any nonexistent awkward silence, watching him play fetch and hope that neither he nor the pup would tire too soon so there would be no reason for them to say goodbye just yet.

In reflection, he had forgotten until now how hurt and confused he had been before Link had stepped in and pretended to be his boyfriend. The fact that he had and had given no reason as to why still perplexed Shad. Still Link had shown him kindness and Shad realized he had not properly expressed any gratitude for his actions.

As a crouched-down Link tried to wrestle and free the bone from the pup's tiny jaws, Shad stepped forward, his eyes canted down to the cobblestone. He caught himself running his right hand through his hair in a wisp of nervousness. He quickly dropped his hand to the side and hoped that Link had not noticed. He doubted that he had, being far too occupied elsewhere.

"…Thank you for pretending and allowing me to maintain a scrap of dignity earlier, old boy," he said and offered Link a short polite bow.

"No problem. Tonight was fun," Link said, gingerly slipping his fingers into the stubborn, playfully growling pup's mouth and prying the bone free. "I know I wasn't the one you were waitin' for, but I hope you had fun too."

Link stood back up and tossed the bone to the far end of the street. He smiled gently as he watched the roly-poly pup scamper wildly after it yet again and with the same vigor it had shown from his first throw.

"He never shows up," Shad admitted, a soft sadness seeping into his voice that drew Link's attention to him, even as the pup clomped back to him. "He always promises and swears this time he will be on time, early even, and he never appears and I stupidly wait for him every time, simply because I want his lies to be true just once."

"I wanted to believe that I had misheard him, that 'that dopey loser' he had spoken of was someone else and that our relationship was more than a bar bet to observe to what length of time I would wait for him this time. I was foolish to listen to him yet again."

"That said, I thoroughly enjoyed having the pleasure of your company tonight," Shad said, a measure of joy entering his voice, as he raised his head up and smiled at Link. "I thank you well and truly for what you did for me, old boy."

To Shad's confusion, Link was frowning rather fiercely. Not at him but at the street. "He was the stupid one, not you. He didn't try or didn't care enough to get to know you and for that he's a damn fool," he said with honest passion. "If I were him, I wouldn't stand you up."

"You w-would not?" Shad asked, blinking in surprise.

"Never," Link said firmly.

That feeling and sensation of awe and uncertainty flooded his thoughts and urged him along to chase this lead and let it open up whatever dreams and avenues it contained. "Could we… Would you…" Shad was nonetheless nervous to ask. Being forward as it pertained to matters of romance was not his strong suit. "May I have the privilege of meeting you again sometime?"

"Make a date," Link said, grinning at Shad as he gave into the wailing pup scratching and nipping at his feet begging for attention and crouched down to pet it,"…and I'll be sure to be there."

-o-

Shad sat in his customary seat at the Group's table in the back of Telma's bar and waited, breaking away from his reading to watch the door as bar patrons and soldiers came and went. He despaired more and more as the main bar filled with raucous, jovial townsfolk friendly to one another greeting the arrival of yet another neighbor while his lonely table remained occupied only by himself. He felt cornered and excluded from the rest of the bar. If he was at any other establishment than Telma's, he would not have been surprised if someone asked him to give his table up to the four standing at the bar.

Normally, it would not matter to him if he sat alone and he would ignore the rest of the bar (or attempt to ignore, if there was a particularly jarring voice amid their roar and hum), but he was not supposed to be sitting alone today. He checked his pocket watch. Link was so far twenty minutes late.

"Now you're welcome to stay in that chair 'til last call, Shad," Telma said as she delivered his tea, "but you've got to stop telling me and yourself that he's coming."

"But he is, I assure you," he insisted. "Now I know how matters may appear unfavorable, however I can promise with the utmost certainty that Link shall be here very soon."

"Honey, I've been meaning to have a talk with you," she said with a sigh as she laid a hand on the backing of his chair and leaned toward him. "You've got to stop letting fellows take advantage or make fun of you. A smart and sweet young man like you deserves far better."

"However appearances or his lack thereof may seem familiar and in line to my past suitors, I assure you that he is different," Shad said as he idly tapped his thumb against the teacup's handle, his rather bashful smile growing and brightening as his thoughts reminded him exactly how different Link was to his previous loves. He peered up at Telma and said with the utmost assurance, "This one loves me."

Though she sighed softly in frustration, promising a much longer chat later on when she did not have as many customers rudely yelling at her to refill their glasses, Telma's smile was hopeful. She wished dearly that his words were true but she did not believe him. She gave his shoulder a supportive pat and headed back to the bar, not without telling one brute to shut up and wait his turn or he would find his next pint poured over his head.

Shad was halfway through his tea when Link rushed through the bar's hastily-opened door carrying a small wooden crate against his chest.

"I'm sorry, I know I'm late…" Link said, slightly out of breath, as several somethings inside the box mewed loudly. "But see?"

He tipped the box forward to let Shad look inside and Shad saw exactly what he had expected to see—three mewling kittens climbing at the sides of the box and over one another and stumbling through their hay bedding.

"Cute and lively as they are," Shad said, looking up at Link. "I say, most fellows bring flowers, old boy."

"I wasn't planning on bringing them along but I didn't know what to do and no one else would take them," Link explained.

"Heavens, my dear, you seem worked up," Shad said. "Please sit down and inform me about what happened."

Link did so and fully explained the reason for his delay, the argument and fight that ensued culminating in Link grabbing a man by the throat and threatening to hold his head underwater.

"He was going to drown them!" Link said, his voice rising in outrage.

"Oh dear, it appears you had no other choice but to be late, old boy," Shad said, watching the harsh fire in Link's face and voice disappear as he petted all the kittens, vowing that he was going to take them home and make them barn cats.

Shad noticed Telma standing in the doorframe at the threshold of the room. She had been watching, no doubt, and had overheard everything, or at least had heard enough, he hoped. From the knowing look in her eyes as she looked at Link and then over at Shad, he knew that she had. Telma nodded lightly in approval as she gave him a playful half-smirk and headed back behind the bar, no longer worried about him and no longer needing to chat later on. At least not about unscrupulous suitors.


End file.
